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FOURTH OF JULY at kirby park

July 5, 2009

DAZZLING FINISH

Residents enjoy traditional Philharmonic performance and fireworks display.

By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

People packed Kirby Park to celebrate the Fourth of July and claim a good spot to watch the fireworks show Saturday night.

For some, it was the first time in several years they came to the park to enjoy Independence Day with families and friends. For others, it was a continuation of an annual tradition.

Wilkes-Barre resident Dee Wilkie promptly stood up from her lawn chair seat situated near the pond as the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic began its musical tribute to America by playing “The Star Spangled Banner.”

“I like the music. Aren’t they great?” she said.

This is the first time in several years Wilkie and her family celebrated the holiday in the park. Usually they’ve attended family picnics in Wilkes-Barre, but this year – with her grandchildren going away to college – it was decided they would have fun at the park and take in the beauty of the fireworks, she said.

Megan, 11, and her 5-year-old sister, Marie, lounged out on a blanket eagerly awaiting the fireworks to begin as they enjoyed the day with their parents, Oliver and Denise Almeida. The Hazleton family has made it a tradition for the last three years to come to the park on July 4.

For Denise it’s more festive to celebrate Independence Day with her family in a park setting.

The family attended Hazleton’s fireworks show on Friday night at the high school football stadium, but she said it just isn’t the same as watching from a grassy vantage point in the park.

“It’s kind of nice to sit in the park to watch the fireworks. We like that they do it on the 4th of July. It’s nice to celebrate,” she said.

Earlier in the day, Megan and Marie were among the throngs of children celebrating freedom as they rode the dozens of rides on the midway near the park’s walking track.

It wouldn’t be the Fourth of July for William and Amanda Mitchell of Pittston if they weren’t camped out near the trees on the grass to watch the nighttime spectacular light up the sky.

They’ve been attending the fireworks shows since Tom McGroarty has been mayor. The first couple of years they sat near the Martz Amphitheater just feet from the pond listening to the orchestra play as they waited for the fireworks.

Now they’re content sitting just outside the track area to get a good look at the bright lights.

“We come to enjoy the fireworks. As you get older just seeing the fireworks is enough,” Amanda Mitchell said.

Fireworks Guide

The following are fireworks displays scheduled for Independence Day weekend:

TODAY

• Back Mountain Harvest Assembly Church grounds, Carverton Road in Trucksville, Kingston Township, dusk

• Water Street Bridge area, Pittston and West Pittston, dusk

MONDAY

• PNC Field, Moosic, after the baseball game

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